Let’s talk turkey: we may have hit peak Donald Trump

Thanksgiving or not, the president looks set to have his wings clipped

Thanksgiving is a wonderful festivity. Unlike the great British Christmas, the American Thanksgiving has somehow eluded commercialisation. The formula remains the time-honoured one: get your family together, eat turkey, be thankful.

Yes, but thankful for what? The originators of the tradition, the early British settlers in Plymouth, were thankful for the survival tips the Wampanoag tribe had given them after the harsh winter of 1620-21. When George Washington proclaimed a day of thanks in 1789 it was to express gratitude to God for “affording [the people of the United States] an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness”.

President Abraham Lincoln formalised Thanksgiving as a national holiday to thank the Almighty that, amid all the upheavals of the Civil…

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